Greece Starts Countdown to Snap Polls

Local Editor

Greece began the countdown to early elections on Tuesday with President Karolos Papoulias set to dissolve parliament for a ballot that has already rattled markets and could revive fears of the country's future in the Eurozone.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was meeting with Papoulias to propose that the elections -- the second in less than two years - would take place on January 25.
The snap ballot was called Monday after lawmakers failed in a third attempt to elect a successor to 85-year-old Papoulias, whose five-year term ends in March.

The last election plunged Greece into weeks of political uncertainty and there are fears of a repeat next month given the close race between Samaras' New Democracy conservatives and Syriza, the anti-austerity radical leftists.

"In an unprecedented twist, the new parliament could elect a president and be dissolved again for new elections (immediately afterwards) if a government cannot be formed," wrote liberal Kathimerini daily Tuesday.
"The elections nobody wanted, held in a climate of uncertainty," said center-left Ta Nea daily.
Avgi, the Syriza party daily, said a leftist government would give "hope to the peoples of Europe and nightmares to the elites oppressing them."

Syriza had dismissed warnings that its electoral program could shake the markets but, within hours of the election call on Monday, the International Monetary Fund said it was suspending further bailout payments to Greece until a new government was formed.

"Discussions with the Greek authorities on the completion of the sixth review of the program... will resume once a new government is in place, in consultation with the European Commission and the European Central Bank," said IMF spokesman Gerry Rice.

Syriza, which declined to vote in the presidential ballot in order to force snap legislative polls, wants to raise salaries and pensions, halt layoffs and freeze the privatization of state assets -- key elements of reforms demanded by Greece's EU-IMF creditors.
The European Union has called on Greeks to stick by the often painful reforms adopted as part of a massive international bailout for the eurozone member state.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team